This application references Disclosure Document #277134 entitled "Ergonomic Thumb Activated Keyboard" mailed Mar. 17, 1991 and received in the USPTO on Mar. 22, 1991.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to activation of non-alphanumeric keys including cursor movement keys on keyboards for computers, electronic typewriters, word processors, and the like, and more particularly, to an improved method and apparatus for activation of alpha-numeric keys which is easier, more efficient, more ergonomic, and permits the touch typist to activate non-alphanumeric keys without moving the eyes from the text or moving the hands from their accustomed touch typing position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The standard electronic and computer keyboards of prior art (See FIG. 1) comprise a number of non-alphanumeric keys including "arrow" keys, 12, 14, 16, 18, which cause a cursor (or perhaps a typing mechanism for electronic typewriters) to move around the screen (or paper for electronic typewriters.) These non-alphanumeric keys are located in positions on the keyboard which force the touch typist to avert his or her eyes from the copy to the keyboard in order to locate and use these keys. Further, the typist must change the hand/finger location(s) and/or stretch uncomfortably to activate these keys.
For the arrow (cursor movement) keys, in particular, the typist must change the hand/finger location from one arrow key to another to move in different directions. Typically, the typist must
1) avert the eyes from the copy to the keyboard, PA0 2) remove the hands from their accustomed location, PA0 3) locate and depress the desired arrow key for movement in one direction, PA0 4) if another directional movement is then required, he or she must then move the hand/finger to the next arrow key for movement in a different direction, PA0 5) step 4) may need to be repeated for other arrow keys, PA0 6) look to the keyboard and return hands to original position, and then PA0 7) search the copy to find the proper location to begin inputting again.
This is not only an inconvenience but a waste of valuable time as well. Further, it adds to typist fatigue which can lead directly to lower efficiency and poorer quality work.
This inconvenience, inefficiency, and fatigue is not only generated by activating the cursor movement keys, but by activating virtually all of the other non-alphanumeric keys as well. These other keys include the page up, page down, home, end, backspace/erase, delete, specific function such as F1 through F12, insert, escape, control, alt, backslash, caps lock, and tab keys, as well as function keys F1, F2, etc. Though for reasons of simplicity and efficiency the discussion herein focuses on the cursor movement keys, the inherent limitations of prior art cursor movement keys are applicable to any and all of the other non-alphanumeric keys as well.
Some keyboard designs more recent than that shown in FIG. 1 (see, for example, Sprague et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,349) have moved the cursor movement keys into different locations, yet none of these designs eliminate the problems and inefficiencies hereinabove delineated. Other prior art (see the "Thumbelina" device of Appoint Corporation) show control of the cursor using a cursor ball which may be operated by the thumbs and which functions much like a mouse. Keyboards including such cursor balls also include cursor movement keys, and the cursor ball is not intended as a surrogate for the cursor keys, but merely as an additional means for moving the cursor. Each of the two types of means has advantages over the other, and each is a separate device unto itself. Cursor keys, for example, provide the user with a way to back or forward space one space at a time or move up or down one line at a time in discrete steps rather than with the continuous movement provided by a mouse or cursor ball. The present invention as applied to cursor movement is intended primarily for use in lieu of the traditional cursor keys rather than as a replacement for a cursor ball or mouse.
The invention shown by Crews, U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,030, permits somewhat easier motion of the cursor, but entails learning of a new keyboard layout as well as movement of the thumbs which is not as comfortable or as natural nor which interface as well with the spacebar as that provided by the present invention. In addition, the invention of Crews entails movement of the thumbs between four different keys to activate cursor movement in the four directions. This entails more time consuming and tedious movements than required in the present invention wherein only two keys may be used to provide cursor movement in all four directions. Further, unlike the present invention, Crew's invention docs not use, and cannot accommodate, the traditional spacebar for spacing which is widespread and found in virtually 100% of the keyboards used today. Still further, Crew's invention is not suitable to today's common keyboard and is not likely to be embraced by keyboard users or keyboard manufacturers since it entails such a radical departure from that to which users have become accustomed.
One keyboard made by Everex Systems, Inc. uses the "j" key to move the cursor in lieu of a mouse (in addition to its normal function as the "j" alphanumeric key). Cursor movement is activated by resting a finger on the top face of the "j" key and "gently sliding" the finger in the direction one wishes the cursor to move. This cursor movement key is intended for movement by a finger and has not proven as ergonomic as was originally hoped. The motion needed by the finger to control the cursor is neither as natural or comfortable as it could be, and users have found it less accurate and efficient than they would like. The device is not as easily activated as is the present invention which may comprise pressure on the side rather than top face of a key. In addition, the Everex "j" key is not a "dedicated" key, i.e., it has two functions--one as an alphanumeric key and one as a mouse key--thus making it more cumbersome than the present invention. Further, the device is not a surrogate for the traditional cursor movement keys as may be the present invention, and hence provides continuous mouse-like, rather than discrete cursor movement as may be provided by the invention shown herein.
Another keyboard design by Outbound in its Laptop System personal computer shows a Track Ball.TM. located below the center of the spacebar. It may be thumb activated but, as will be shown herein, is not as comfortably or as naturally activated as the present invention. Further, it takes up extra space on the keyboard which may not be necessary with the present invention. Such extra space actually forces the manufacturer to make the keyboard larger, entailing extra expense. It also requires extra space by the user to situate the keyboard. In addition, it moves the cursor in the continuous manner of a mouse or cursor ball rather than the discrete step movements supplied by standard cursor keys and which may be supplied by the improved cursor keys of the present invention. Further, it does not take advantage of the natural tendency of the thumbs to provide activation via transverse motion using direct pressure from the face of a thumb rather than traction force from a side of the thumb.
There is therefore, at present, no comfortable, easy means to activate non-alphanumeric keys such as the discrete step cursor (or typing mechanism) movement keys on standard size and design computer or electronic typewriter keyboards without moving the hands from their accustomed touch typing position, stretching of the hands uncomfortably, and/or averting the eyes to look at the keyboard.